


No Place Like Home

by captaindoritoes



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic Bliss, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family Bonding, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-20 00:25:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18981427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captaindoritoes/pseuds/captaindoritoes
Summary: Planning on surprising her husband Steve and their children on Christmas, Peggy is actually the one in for a special treat. (Modern AU) Domestic fluff.





	No Place Like Home

_Free to be with her family._ Peggy couldn’t think of anything more blissful as she stomped her sleek boots up the house pathway. Any frustration she felt from working dissipated on her drive home. As she’d imagine, the front lawn had traces of Sarah and James’ sleighs being dragged around and once-empty snow angels nearly filled with fresh cascading snow. If her car lights in the driveway hadn’t given her arrival away, she was well on her way to surprising her precious trio as she gently jingled her keys into the front lock. Glimpsing into the front hallway, a pine garland with ribbon wrapped around the stairwell with paper snowflakes attached to the walls with tact. She heard Steve in the kitchen asking the kids to help him make a plate of leftovers for their mother. The house immediately warmed her frozen bones as she inched towards the mudroom. Peggy barely managed to remove her shoes before footsteps against the hardwood floor bounded closer to her.

              “Mama!“ a small voice beckoned boisterously - little James, only five years old.

              The jig was up before it began. Even for such an experienced spy as she, nothing passed a child’s intuition of their parents. Sometimes she’d wondered if her little tyke had a super sixth sense. "Oh my darling, hello!” Peggy nearly squealed with delight as she picked him up into her arms with flurries of snow now melting and wetting her attire. Her red lipstick left small evidence on his cheek as she gave him a big walloping kiss. She’d almost uttered she was home, if Steve hadn’t heard yet, when he turned the corner from their dining parlor. Evidence of their dinner stained a few wet spots on his buttoned-down shirt and pants. Sarah, a year older than James, followed close behind, clapping.

              Steve missed her as much as she did with them. His eyes brightened with delight and a gentle smile crossed his face as he strolled up to her and wrapped his bulging arms around her and James for a big hug. Sarah wrapped her arms at the foot of their legs. Steve planted a kiss on his wife’s lips; gentle and affectionate but nevertheless one that nearly took her breath away. "Work call off early?“ he inquired with a slight tone of surprise.

              "Natasha swept the scene more thoroughly than we expected. She never stops working, that girl,” Peggy explained with a sigh as James played with her hair and scarf. Steve could say the same thing about herself too. Sarah tugged on Steve’s trousers and her skirt, fearing she was being forgotten. "Yes, I know my darling. You three get many kisses over the course of this weekend. If the snow doesn’t let up, it’ll be until New Years too,” Steve lifted their daughter up effortlessly into his arms before his lips staked claim on Peggy’s once more.

              "Imagine what we could do in a weekend,“ Steve stated quietly, a small blush working its way up his neck. "Let’s help Mama out of her wet clothes,” he instructed happily, unintentionally licking his lips.

              Peggy grinned, as she wiped her lipstick from James’ face before setting him down and giving Sarah a big kiss as well. Steve let Sarah down and then helped Peggy remove her scarf and jacket, hanging it up on the coat rack. “Dinner is ready. And, we were just about to start movie night.”

             Her eyebrows shot up in anticipation of what she’d expect they’d be watching. “And, no - it’s not  _A Christmas Story_. But it is a surprise,” Steve answered before she had a chance. He knew of her distaste with the film, trying to ignore it was unintentionally all of his doing.

             “Why doesn’t Mama get ready for movie night and she’ll join us in a few minutes?” Steve asked their kids, as they squealed excitedly. She moved up the stairs as he encouraged them to bring their toys into the living room.

 She remembered the first time they’d attempted the “great” marathon as she began undressing from work and freshening up. Since they’d both been woken up nearly a decade ago, they’ve worked their way through a scroll’s length of suggestions made by friends and colleagues of events and public figures they’d miss. One of Steve’s favorite pastimes, and quickly becoming their children’s, was watching  _A Christmas Story_ marathon, a tactile suggestion she couldn’t help but wonder if Tony had made in an effort to test her wills. When they married, a portion of their first Christmas was spent allowing the television to play the same movie for nearly twenty-four hours.  One viewing was plenty for her, but Steve couldn’t seem to get enough. But that marathon became a tradition that Peggy was willing to sit through because Steve enjoyed it so. Now pulling on a modest pair of pajamas, she wondered what was on the program for the evening.

             Peggy descended the stairs and walked into the living room parlor, a grin spreading across her face at the sight of their tinseled Christmas tree flickering with multi-colored lights.  Handmade and vintage ornaments hung gently off of its branches. Of some of the Christmas memories she may have missed out on this year, she was grateful decorating their tree was not one of them. Peggy watched with amusement and a bit of pride as Steve readied their home entertainment system.

             The convenience of television was something they first learned of when they moved in together and Tony had sent over the best set imaginable; one with speakers which created a surround sound on a large wooden entertainment center, which was now covered with cards from friends and stockings. Though they both still made it out to the theaters every so often with Natasha or Sam watching over their children, they easily grew accustomed to setting up lovely movie nights at home. Advanced technology was once so new to them, and now they both had a knack for everything.

             On the coffee table, dinner awaited, warmed and ready for her. Steve really did manage to do it all. The kids gathered on the floor in a fort pile of blankets and pillows and stuffed animals.

              “What’s on the program this evening, my love?” Peggy asked with genuine interest. If  _A Christmas Story_ was out of the picture, and they both deemed  _It’s A Wonderful Life_ might fail to capture the children’s attention, she struggled to brainstorm what other holiday titles were left. Peggy made herself comfortable on the couch as Steve joined her. She normally didn’t eat in the living room, and she always protested it even for the children, but tonight, rules could be bent a little.

              Steve grinned as he sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her waist, not giving even the slightest hint. “You’ll see,” was all he uttered. She eyed him suspiciously and delicately began sifting through the turkey, mash potatoes, and vegetables Steve had prepared. Peggy’s inquisition grew as previews played one after another, none of them matching their other dvds. A green menu with illustrative, Technicolor faces appeared behind a beautiful cursive title:  _The Wizard of Oz._

“Well, this is a new one!” Peggy couldn’t help but exclaim. “Well, for them anyways.”

             Steve shuffled around and was silent for a moment before pressing play. The movie began. “To be honest, we were going to watch  _A Christmas Story_  at first. But we’ve been waiting to watch this one with the kids, and tonight couldn’t be more perfect,” he finished rubbing her back.

             Peggy smiled at him, and noticed a wary expression on his face. She finished her meal in due time as the kids settled on the floor, watching a twister whisk a young auburn girl from Kansas into a mysterious emerald land.

             She settled back on the couch with him, leaning close into Steve’s shoulder. “The Wizard of Oz isn’t a new one for you, is it?” Peggy asked gently, as Dorothy skipped down the yellow brick road with a crowd of little people cheering her on.

              Steve’s clamped his lips shut for a moment before releasing a heavy sigh. “Bucky and I saw it at a movie house together…” he paused, “a few months before my mother passed away.” Peggy looked up at him. His face was still but that everlasting light shone through his eyes. “It gave me hope. Still does.”

              Peggy reached her arm around his neck and planted a kiss on his lips. “Did you see movies while you were training at the academy?” he asked.

              “We were given permission to leave on weekends and evenings every so often. Quite a few of the cinemas were still operating, surprisingly, before they were closed and then opened later over the years. But I preferred breaking codes as much as I could,” Peggy admitted, as her hand lightly played with his hair and Steve grabbed her feet to rub.

             The movie progressed further with James at one point bouncing towards them on the couch as the wicked witch attempted to attack Dorothy and her new friends. When the story settled down and the group was contemplating how to meet the Great and Powerful Oz, he retreated on the floor with his sister. They sat close before lying down and clutching their stuffed teddies. Peggy knew they fell asleep when they didn’t make a stir as flying monkeys swarmed around the Wicked Witch and jettisoned off into the night sky.

              “This was the reference,” Peggy interrupted him with one finger to his mouth and the other hand pointing to their children, “Fury used it when Loki was set to attack New York City. The only one I actually got,” Steve murmured with a hint of prideful charm.

              Throughout the rest of the film, her mind wondered intermittently about the Second World War. For too long it darkened the world into a stark, cold and empty place. Color managed to seep in, like the first time she and Steve met – witnessing him never being bullied into submission by his fellow comrades or Colonel Phillips, and then their relationship growing. Neither one of them expected to be alive, let alone awake, nearly eighty years later – Steve surviving the dive into the ice caps while crashing the Red Skull’s jet and Peggy having undergone one of Howard’s experimental sleep serums to aid her grief.

             _I think I’m going to miss you most of all,_ Dorothy sobbed in a hushed tone to her friend the Scarecrow before she and her dog Toto departed.

              Peggy wasn’t known beyond closed doors as a woman who was affront with her emotions; the war shielding how she felt. Slowly over the years, and perhaps even first when they met, Steve’s gentle good heart awakened a deep, personal love within her that was absent. And, her children even more so. Slowly, she wiped her eyes as a few brisk tears made their escape as Dorothy finally made it home to her family. The little girl realized that her heart’s desire was no further than her own backyard.

              “Thank you, my darling,” Peggy said, her heart full of gratitude. She leaned over to Steve and planted a kiss on his cheek as they slowly stood and stretched up from the couch. His reflective silence was a sign of emotions pooling within as the brief credits played.

             She had been right – their little James and Sarah fell asleep. Steve slinked around the room turning off the television and lights in the nearby rooms as Peggy carefully lifted Sarah into her arms. James soon joined Steve’s into his. Peggy was only a step behind him as they ascended the stairs. For such a melodic movie full of wonder and magic, Peggy’s mind struggled to settle as they situated their children into their beds. Dorothy exuberantly deciding that there was no place like home overwhelmed her thoughts. The declaration struck a deep chord. Her own words to Steve when he made a choice to end the Red Skull’s attempted wrath seemed to play just as clearly.  _Just be there._  Three words Peggy used when they separated during the war; a code to meet at the Stork Club when all hope was lost; when they assumed Steve would never be recovered. It was a simple promise that in the immediate future they’d be together, unharmed, and hope carrying them into the next day. 

             When they returned to their own room, Peggy paused watching Steve as she brushed her teeth and he pulled on his own pajamas. He talked idly about how the movie still held up after all this time before moving on about the day he and the children had. He pulled them around in their sleighs – just as she pictured. The kids wanted to make snow-people this weekend when she was home. When she finished they united in bed, and Steve’s arms pulled her close. She filled him in on some details from work, but still her mind was miles away. They’d made it through their own long, brick road and were graced with lives they fought valiantly to achieve for others long ago. Snow blanketed the house. A Christmas tree sat in the bay window all decorated with their children’s ornaments. Its string of multicolored bulbs lighting up the living room. Stockings hung from the unlit fireplace. For the night, they were safe with their children and the past had become sepia memories. It was good just to be here. As Steve’s arms tightened around her, and they both dozed off: alas, there was no place like home.


End file.
